Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro attended on Thursday some military activities of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) on Orchila island, located off the north coast of Venezuela.

The president regarded the drills as "historical" and underscored that such activities were carried out as "part of the strategy outlined by Commander Hugo Chávez in order to recover and strengthen the whole Armed Force."

"Today, we will see the ever-increasing recovery of our sea and land defense capacity, to make our homeland untouchable by any empire," the Venezuelan president stated when supervising missiles Otomat MK-2, which are being tested in the military drills.

Maduro stressed that the FANB "is increasingly better equipped to perform its main duty, which is defending the sovereignty of the homeland."

Dossier

Yamir Tovar (22) and Luis Fabián (21) were subjected by members of a ‘colectivo' (an armed pro-government gang) in the west Caracas neighborhood of Catia on February 20. Their bodies were found tied up and gagged; they were killed by headshots in execution style.